"Before we even got to clause by clause in this bill, the Conservative senators shut down the debate. They refused to allow a bill to go to clause by clause and thus go in to the Senate to become law."

The Liberals said their Conservative opponents even refused to allow MS patients to testify about the effects of treatment for what is known as chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency or CCSVI.

"They don't want to hear from MS patients, to have them as witnesses before the committee," said Sen. Jane Cordy, sponsor of the bill. "This is shameful."

The Conservative senators argued this is a matter for science and medicine, not Parliament.

"Since Day 1, the Conservative have played politics with MS patients," Cordy said.

"The Conservative senators on that committee threw the science away and have used politics, politics, politics."

Cordy says as many as 75,000 Canadians suffer from MS.

The government has promised clinical trials of the therapy and a national register of patients, although neither the trials nor the registry have started.

The bill would have required a national strategy and formal trials of what is known as liberation therapy.

The treatment is based on a hypothesis from Italian vascular surgeon Dr. Paolo Zamboni, who theorizes that a narrowing of veins that drain blood from the brain may be linked to MS.

Liberation therapy involves opening up blocked neck veins.

The treatment is not offered in Canada and some patients have travelled around the world to seek it out. Saskatchewan has budgeted $2.2 million to have 86 Saskatchewan patients take part in an American trial.

The treatment has caused controversy. Some patients say their symptoms have been alleviated by the therapy. Some scientists, however, say they can't find a link between MS and narrowed veins.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about liberation therapy in May. It cautioned health-care professionals and patients that injuries and deaths have been associated with the experimental procedure.

"Because there is no reliable evidence from controlled clinical trials that this procedure is effective in treating MS, FDA encourages rigorously conducted, properly targeted research to evaluate the relationship between CCSVI and MS," William Maisel, a senior scientist with the agency, said in the alert.

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Famous Faces Touched By MS

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Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's wife's MS is central to his campaign. They often discuss her 1998 diagnosis, as well as how she managed the disease while raising five sons, ABC reported.
But she recently had to take a break from campaigning when her symptoms were aggravated. "I start to almost lose my words. I almost can't think. I can't get my words out. I start to stumble a little bit and so those things were happening and I thought, 'Uh oh, big trouble,'" she said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.

The Daytime Emmy award-winning talk show host announced his diagnosis in 1999, and he started the Montel Williams MS Foundation to raise money for research into the disease.
His main symptom is pain, he told Dr. Oz on an episode of "Oprah." "I've got pain from my shins to my feet, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and it's been there for the last 10 years." Then the pain spread to his face. "It literally feels like you're taking a fork and stabbing me right now. People say, 'How the devil do you deal with this?'" he said. "You have to get a grip."

The Emmy award-winning journalist and husband to Meredith Viera first learned of his diagnosis in 1973, but was reluctant to speak up about it, he told USA Today in 2004. "I always resisted being defined by my MS," he said. "That's why I was obsessively secretive about it in the early years. It never dawned on me that people thought I had a drinking problem. Police even followed me home a few times thinking I was under the influence."

The comedian was first diagnosed with MS in 1986, and eventually became debilitating enough to drastically affect his work, USA Today reported.
He died in 2005 of a heart attack at age 65.

The actress, well known for her roles in "Young Frankenstein" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was diagnosed with MS in 1999, after 16 years of symptoms like tingling, tripping and stabbing pain, according to Reader's Digest.
She spoke out publicly about the disease in 2002, according to Everyday Health, becoming a pair spokesperson for an MS medication and a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and advocating for research and education.

The singer and wife of NBA player Grant Hill opened up on "Extra" in 2005 about her diagnosis nearly two years before. "I went from being physically active to not being able to get out of bed," she said.
But she knew she had to push through and speak up about the disease, she said. "I just felt it was important to get it out there and let people know it's not a sign of weakness. You have good days and bad days."

The country musician was diagnosed in 1996 at the age of 26, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, after losing feeling in his right hand and leg.
Through mediation, diet and exercise, he has regained feeling, continued on in his music career and worked to raise money and awareness of the disease. He was named Ambassador of the Year by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, only the fourth person to receive the distinction in nearly 60 years.

Alan, entertainer and producer (and brother to Donny and Marie), noticed he was tripping on nothing while he was on stage in 1987 and was diagnosed with MS a few years later, he told the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
His son, David, known for his turn on "American Idol," was diagnosed in 2006, and says one of Alan's favorite sayings -- "I may have MS but MS does not have me" -- keeps him performing.
Photo: Left to right: Alan, David and Donny Osmond

The writer, who detailed her diagnosis in "The White Album," told the New York Times she went blind for six weeks due to the disease.

The "Real Housewives of Washington D.C." star revealed a 17-year battle with MS on a 2010 Fox appearance. She said she hoped to use her fame to help others.

The First Lady spoke about her father's multiple sclerosis on a recent episode of "The Late Show With David Letterman." "I never knew him to be able to walk, but my dad worked so hard and he loved us so much," she said. "I think from him I learned just absolute, complete unconditional love, the notion that kids really don't need anything but to know that their parents adore them."

The author's mother passed away in 1991 after a 10-year battle with MS, People.com reported. She said that her greatest regret is that her mother didn't live to see the wild success of Rowling's Harry Potter series.